Religious Affiliation and Flu Vaccination in Germany: Results of the German Ageing Survey
,
Religionszugehörigkeit und Grippeimpfung in Deutschland: Ergebnisse des Deutschen Alterssurveys
Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Hamburg Carl von Ossietzky
Erscheinungsjahr:
2022
Medientyp:
Text
Schlagworte:
religious affiliation
religion
flu vaccination
influenza
church
preventive healthcare services
610: Medizin
44.11: Präventivmedizin
ddc:610:
Beschreibung:
Our aim was to examine the association between religious affiliation and the likelihood of taking the flu vaccine. Cross-sectional data (year 2014 with n = 7172) were used from the nationally representative German Ageing Survey—covering community-dwelling individuals aged 40 years and over. Multiple logistic regressions showed that compared with individuals without a religious af- filiation, individuals with certain religious affiliations had a lower likelihood of taking the flu vaccine. More precisely, the likelihood of taking a flu shot was significantly associated with belonging to the Roman Catholic Church (OR: 0.50, 95% CI: 0.44–0.57), the Protestant Church (OR: 0.68, 0.60–0.77), the Evangelic Free Church (OR: 0.54, 0.35–0.82) and other religious communities (OR: 0.25, 0.14–0.45). The results remained nearly the same when we restricted our analyses to individuals aged 60 years and over (according to existing recommendations for flu vaccination). The association between religious affiliation and the likelihood of taking the flu vaccine was moderated by thoughts about religion and deeds for religion. This knowledge could help to improve the immunization coverage by addressing individuals with certain religious affiliations.